No doubt you’ve already heard that people tend to buy from those they already know, like and trust.
If you are looking for ideas to grow your business online and increase user interaction on your site, then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for prospects to get to know, like and trust your organization better.
Adding a directory to your site can help increase your credibility online and get interested prospects contacting you.
In this step-by-step tutorial, we are going to show you how to easily add an easy-to-manage list of employees in your website using a free plugin.
Plugin Tutorial: Adding An Employee List Directory
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a free plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress
(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)
Simple Staff List lets you staff members.
The first step is to install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into the dashboard and in your admin menu, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on Install Now …
(WordPress Plugins – plugin search results)
Click on Activate Plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After the plugin has been installed and activated, a new menu will appear in the WordPress menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
The Staff Members menu is where you will manage and configure all of the settings and options for this plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.
Configuring The Plugin
Depending on how many people are in your team and how you want to structure your directory, you can just start adding new staff members at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to assign your individualmembers into.
Staff Members – Groups
To configure your groups go to your dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
The Groups panel …
(Groups section)
Note: Setting up groups is similar to working with categories …
(Groups work just like categories)
Add new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group name here
- Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your group name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – Use this section if you plan to set up nested categories
- Description – Enter the category description in this field
- Click the Add New Group button when finished to create the new group name …
(Groups settings)
If you run a larger organization, having the ability to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for founders, project teams, departments, etc.
Create as many categories and nested groups as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to assign these to a directory hierarchy …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after creating new items …
To change Groups for specific items, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …
The selected category open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new group from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click Update to save your changes …
To change the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and choose the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click the Update Group button when done to save your changes …
Continue adding categories to this section until you are done creating your directory structure …
Add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested categories)
Once you have finished setting up your groups, you can begin adding your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member section …
(Add New Staff Member screen)
This screen provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Enter your staff member’s name
- Permalink: Here you can change the slug associated with each staff member if required (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your staff member’s position
- Email: Your employee’s email address
- Phone Number: Add the person’s phone number into this field
- Facebook URL: Add the employee’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type in the person’s Twitter username (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Type a profile description for your employees here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatting to the content entered in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: You can assign the person to a group (see above to learn how to set up groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen options)
You will see options to enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your staff member’s details …
(Add Staff Member settings)
After you have entered details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups box located in your sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you did not set up groups before adding new staff members, you can create a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups > + Add New Group feature)
A field will appear allowing you to create a new group name, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new group and click on Add New Group …
A new category will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign an entry to the group …
(New group)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing employee details. To edit an item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).
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After entering the person’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
You can make changes to your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the WordPress admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about using the WordPress admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If you get errors like the one shown below, check that your site’s permalinks have been set up correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get errors)
To learn more about setting up WP permalinks, go here:
Repeat the above process to continue adding more details to your staff directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employees to your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members in your menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a list displaying all the staff profiles and details you have added with each entry …
(Staff Members details)
If you need to modify individual details, hover over their list name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit if you want to modify the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a listing from your staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Edit Staff Members profile details)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can get quite long.
You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate listing items …
(Search Staff Members search field)
You can specify which fields to display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …
(Staff Members Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide specific fields. You can also choose how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when done to update your settings …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order in which entries display on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order in the menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to its desired position …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered listings)
Once you are done adding members’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to display the directory to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order in which listings show on your directory pages.
Select Staff Members > Order in your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the item to the new position …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered list items)
Once you have added member listing details to the directory, the next step is to display the directory to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin lets you customize the style and layout of your directory listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the style and layout of your staff directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory, reorganize any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is the default template used for displaying listings …
(Default Simple Staff List Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. To display these fields, you will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Use template tags to customize your listings page)
Your directory entries will now appear with Facebook and Twitter addresses as as the screenshot below shows …
(Directory with social media URLs)
Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess with code or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
As well as being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your main menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage page …
(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)
This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin lets you use.
A useful shortcode variation you can add to your page, for example, to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales managers”])
Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In the main menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This opens the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – Options settings)
Here you can change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles
You can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export screen …
(Export Staff Members plugin information)
If you need additional information about the plugin, visit the plugin support page.
Additional Staff Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a directory of your employees in WordPress. Here are other free WordPress plugins you can check out:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory)
The Modern Team Staff Directory plugin helps you collect your team information and showcase it anywhere on your site in beautiful grids, columns and tables. This premium plugin features over a dozen presets and provides editors that make it easy to edit and update your directory.
(Modern Team Staff Directory – Responsive Templates)
For more details go here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory)
With Staff Directory, you can easily display a list of faculty/staff/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, schools, etc.
This plugin also lets you create custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory website)
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin provides a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college, school or university.
The plugin also installs a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WP Plugin)
With Company Directory, you can easily add your staff to your website. Different layouts are available, including grid and single views, plus as fields like title, email address, phone, image and bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.
Visitors will be able to click through from your list, grid, and table views to read more about each employee in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty in an easy to view format. Screenshot source: plugin website)
This plugin uses simple shortcodes.
More info:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just an individual member of your team in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.
With Employee Spotlight, you also get two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.
Detailed information about each employee can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight plugin website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
This plugin uses custom post types for employee management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage a staff directory on your website …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer plugin website)
Staffer works with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
For more details go here:
If the directory plugins listed above aren’t what you’re looking for, just go online or visit the WordPress plugin directory and search for:
- Add Staff Directory To WordPress
- WordPress Staff Plugin
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has helped you learn how to create a simple and easy-to-update staff directory in your website.
Models used in this tutorial to display staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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